Arterial aneurysm can be given as an example of a pathologic change occurring in a vascular pathway. Aortic aneurysm, which is an arterial aneurysm occurring particularly in the abdominal area, has no early symptoms, and unless unintentionally discovered during an MRI (magnetic resonance imaging), CT (computed tomography), ultrasound, or similar scan, is often discovered just before rupture, during an abdominal surge or the like. It is therefore desirable to detect such a condition early through a casual examination, such as during a health checkup.
JP H05-023335A (Patent Literature 1) discloses a device that makes diagnoses using ultrasound waves, as a device for detecting aortic aneurysms. Meanwhile, JP 2007-222626A (Patent Literature 2) discloses a method of detecting a pathologic change as a specific site by comparing multiple pieces of image data taken through X-ray CT, MRI, or similar scans.